This event will explore youth-driven analysis of shared challenges and opportunities faced by people in the Euro-Mediterranean region, and discuss action-oriented proposals to develop more positive policy narratives.

Across the European and MENA regions, there is a growing trust gap between young people and their governments, multilateral organisations and even international civil society. Reactionary political and media discourse on global terrorism in recent years, all-too-often characterising youth as “at risk” of violent extremism, has led to alienation of youth from multilateral discussions rather than empowering them as essential partners for dialogue and peace-building.

This has consequences for the business and social environment in both regions, and is a challenge that must be embraced, according to the first-ever United Nations report on the topic: “The Missing Peace: Progress Study on Youth, Peace and Security.”

Key questions on how to change the narrative include:

How to prioritise regional partnerships and collaborative action where youth are viewed as equal and essential partners for dialogue and peace?

Are there emerging alternative ways of meaningful inclusion, or new players and opportunities that are being overlooked?

How can converging values and interests among a millennial generation, south and north of the Mediterranean, provide new models of regional governance?

How do governance processes benefit from the innovation, leadership and transnational connectivity of young people in the Euro-Mediterranean region?

What do a microbiologist, an entrepreneur, a journalist and a Member of Parliament have in common? They are all European Young Leaders who are engaged in making Europe a global champion for a better world.

LISTENING AND TAKING ACTION

WHAT YOUTH REALLY WANT

The session will explore youth-driven analysis of shared challenges and opportunities faced by young people in the Euro-Mediterranean region, identifying cross border commonalities and differences, discussing action-oriented proposals to develop more positive policy narratives. This is an opportunity to listen to the voices and experiences of Euro-Mediterranean youth in order to critically evaluate the role Europe plays in shaping and influencing their lives, and suggest ways in which Europe can learn to play a more constructive role in its southern neighbourhood.

What are the hopes and dreams of Euro-Mediterranean youth?

What are they looking for from their societies and what do they expect from their governments?

How do they see the relationship between the MENA and European regions?

What do they want to achieve in their own lives and what prevents them from moving forward and reaching their goals?

With:Elisabeth Guigou, President of the Anna Lindh Mediterranean Foundation for DialogueJaafar Abdul Karim, Presenter of Shabab Talk at the Deutsche Welle TV and winner of the Mediterranean Journalist AwardsBjorn Ihler, Founder of Khalifa-Ihler Institute and Kofi Annan Extremely Together Young LeaderEsmat Elsayed, Young Mediterranean Voices (YMV) and delegate to the Africa-EU SummitFadi Quran, Senior Campaigner at Avaaz and MENA Young Leader (EYL40)

LEARNING AND ACTING

WALKING THE TALK ON YOUTH ENGAGEMENT

The session will explore youth-driven analysis of shared challenges and opportunities faced by young people in the Euro-Mediterranean region, identifying cross border commonalities and differences, discussing action-oriented proposals to develop more positive policy narratives. This is an opportunity to listen to the voices and experiences of youth in order to critically evaluate the role Europe plays in shaping and influencing their lives, and suggest ways in which Europe can learn to play a more constructive role in its southern neighbourhood.

National governments and international organisations have started extolling the virtues of youth engagement but are they also walking the talk through policies and actions?

What are the real benefits of bringing young people into the policy and decision -making machinery at the national and multilateral level?

In which areas would such youth involvement be especially beneficial and why?

Given the growing disengagement of young people from national and international institutions, which governance models at all level could help bridging the gap?

Transfer to the European Parliament conference on Youth, Peace, and Security for those who have registered to attend.

Speakers

Jaafar Abdul Karim

Presenter of Shabab Talk at the Deutsche Welle TV and winner of the Mediterranean Journalist Awards

Presenter of Shabab Talk on Deutsche Welle Television and winner of the 2017 Med Journalist Awards. As the name implies, “Shabab Talk” brings together young people from Germany and the Arabic countries discuss current, socio-political topics. Before hosting Shabab Talk, Jaafar Abdul Karim worked as an editor and video journalist for the talk show “Jugend ohne Grenzen” (Youth without borders); he therefore commuted between Cairo and Berlin to shoot and produce his reportages for the show. Born in Liberia and raised in Switzerland and Lebanon, Jafaar Abdul Karim feels at home in both worlds. He studied Media Computer Science at the TU (Technische Universität) Dresden and at the INSA (Institut National des Sciences Appliquées) Lyon; additionally he completed a directing workshop at the London Film Academy. Now Jaafar lives in multiple cultures. This had a decisive influence on him and his life.

Haia Bako

Young Mediterranean Voices (YMV)

Haia has been an active volunteer with the “Madrasati Initiative”, which focuses on schools in Jordan. She finds joy in giving to others. Haia has always been an active member in civic and social associations and, as a believer in feminism and female empowerment, came up with an initiative during her sophomore year with a group of youth that aims to raise awareness of early marriage issues among under age girls. Haia also participated in Willem C. Vis International Commercial Arbitration Moot, which was held in Vienna in March 2018. Furthermore, she is involved in international initiatives such as Young Arab Voices and Young Mediterranean Voices Plus. The former is an international debate competition and over the years, she has attained the title of Master Trainer and, together with her team, won several international competitions. The latter is the initiative of High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy of the EU Federica Mogherini regarding MENA and Europe which aims to redefine EU South politics through youth participation.

Abdelbasset Ben Hassen

President, Arab Institute for Human Rights

Abdelbasset Ben Hassen is the President of the Arab Institute for Human Rights. Abdelbasset is also the chairman of the Tunisian national committee for the support of refugees and served as a member of the high committee for the realization of the objectives of the revolution, political reform and democratic transition. Previously, he taught Human Rights in Tunis and Strasbourg, and has written extensively on human rights, human rights education and culture. He was a member of the drafting committee of the United Nations World Program on Human Rights Education.

Esmat Elsayed

Young Mediterranean Voices (YMV) and delegate to the Africa-EU Summit

Esmat is passionate about structured cross-cultural dialogue and debates. She is a founder of the Young Arab Voices Project in Egypt, which started in 2011 with the Anna Lindh Foundation and the British Council. She is also a debate trainer and adjudicator. Esmat has co-founded 2 national initiatives in Egypt: “Debate for Life” and “Engaging-Empowerment Egyptian Youth (EYouth)”, which worked on training Egyptian youth in debating, dialogue and entrepreneurial skills. Esmat is one of the 36 Youth Fellows of the AU-EU Youth Plug initiative who designed and wrote the Youth Agenda presented to heads of states at the Abidjan Summit in November 2017. Esmat worked on the Governance and Political inclusion section, which created three initiatives to enhance AU–EU cooperation in the areas of decentralization of governance, illicit financial flows and utilizing e-governence tools to enhance transparency and accountability across AU and EU member states

Hella Grichi

Young Mediterranean Voices (YMV)

Hella's experience with Young Arab Voices started in 2014 and inspired her to immerse herself in civil society, grassroots activism and women's empowerment. With the École Normale Supérieure debate team, she won the Tunisian national debate competition and was the fourth best debater. Hella is also a Co-Founder of Aspire to Inspire, an initiative aiming to promote English Spoken Word poetry in Tunis and is currently very active with the socio-cultural grassroots initiative called “Blech 7ess” (Without Noise), focused on pairing the promotion of art with social dimensions. Being a writer herself, she recently published a few works and is also writing lyrics for local bands. She has worked for the German embassy in Tunis since 2017.

Elizabeth Guigou is president of the Anna Lindh Euro-Mediterranean Foundation for the Dialogue between Cultures, a network of civil society organisations dedicated to promoting intercultural dialogue in the Mediterranean region. Before this appointment, Elizabeth served as French minister of European Affairs, Member of the European Parliament, and member of the French National Assembly, among numerous other posts. In addition to this, Elisabeth was the first female to be appointed Minister of Justice in France, where she distinguished herself for her fight for a more independent justice system.

Bjørn Ihler

Founder of Khalifa-Ihler Institute and Kofi Annan Extremely Together Young Leader

Bjørn Ihler is an international counter extremism expert and activist working as a filmmaker, editor and
writer to develop spaces for dialogue and peace-building between different people and communities. In
2016, he co-founded the Khalifa Ihler Institute that works for peace through knowledge, technology and
design. Since 2016 Bjørn has also been part of the Kofi Annan Foundation initiative Extremely Together,
and he explores means of countering violent extremism as one of ten young leaders in the field from across
the world. Bjørn is building his work on a foundation in communication, technology, data and
computational sociology as well as his academic background in peace and conflict studies.

Shada Islam

Director for Europe & Geopolitics

Shada Islam is responsible for policy oversight of Friends of Europe’s initiatives, activities and publications. She has special responsibility for issues related to the Future of Europe, Migration, the Asia Programme and the Development Policy Forum. Shada is Visiting Professor at the College of Europe (Natolin) where she teaches Asia-Europe relations and has been selected as a fellow by the Vrije Universiteit Brussel (VUB). She has been named as one of twenty most influential women in Brussels by Politico. Shada is the former Europe correspondent for the Far Eastern Economic Review and has previously worked on Asian and Migration issues at the European Policy Centre. She is one of the authors of Friends of Europe’s much-read “Frankly Speaking” commentary and is sought after as a speaker, commentator, columnist and moderator at high-level European and global events. Shada also continues to write on EU foreign and security policy, EU-Asia relations and trade and development issues for leading Asian, European and international publications and academic journals.

Michael Köhler

Director of Neighbourhood, Directorate-General for Neighbourhood and Enlargement Negotiations, European Commission

Michael Köhler has been Director of Neighbourhood Policy since 2015, in this capacity he is responsible for cooperation with Mediterranean Arab countries and Israel. Since joining the European Commission he has held many positions including Director for the Eastern and Southern Neighbourhood in the Directorate General for Development and International Cooperation; Head of Cabinet to the Commissioner for Energy; and Head of Cabinet to the Commissioner for Maritime Affairs and Fisheries. He previously worked as a representative of the Konrad-Adenauer-Foundation in Morocco and Tunisia, and in the Policy Planning Department of the Federal Ministry of Economic Co-operation and Development in Germany. He has authored numerous books and articles on international Islamic studies and foreign policy. He is also a Professor of Europe and the Mediterranean at the College of Europe in Bruges, Belgium.

Fadi Quran

Senior Campaigner Avaaz, MENA Delegate

Fadi is the face of the new Middle East. As Senior Campaigner at Avaaz, an international online campaigning network, he has been promoting numerous campaigns on issues such as human rights, poverty and conflict, becoming an unofficial leader of the Electronic Intifada. Quran is also a Popular Struggle community organiser, a policy member of the Al-Shabaka Palestinian Policy Network, and is a leading figure in the burgeoning Palestinian youth movement committed to achieving freedom, justice and dignity for the Palestinian people, having previously served as UN Advocacy Officer with Al-Haq’s legal research and advocacy unit. Apart from his work in advocacy and international law, he is also an entrepreneur in the alternative energy field, where he has founded two companies bringing wind and solar energy power to Palestine and other countries in the region.

Tarik Yousef

Senior Fellow, Global Economy and Development programme at Brookings

Tarik Yousef is a Senior Fellow in the Global Economy and Development programme and the Director of
the Brookings Doha Center. He has worked extensively in the academic world, as well as in the public
policy arena, with experience from the IMF, the World Bank and the UN, and more recently from the NGO
Silatech. He is a development expert on the economies of the Middle East and North Africa. Tarik has
also served on the advisory boards of development organisations and boards of directors of financial
institutions.

Partners

Young Mediterranean Voices” seeks to empower young people to enhance a culture of dialogue, to contribute to public policy and shape media discourses, and to create a shared understanding with peers across the Mediterranean on how to address issues of common concern to their communities.
"Young Mediterranean Voices" is coordinated by the Anna Lindh Foundation, in co-partnership with the British Council, Centre for Mediterranean Integration (CMI), Friends of Europe, the World Leadership Alliance-Club de Madrid, MEDAC and Soliya, funded by the European Commission and co-financed by the Government of Finland and World Bank Group.

With the support of

This activity is co-financed through the European Commission Grant Agreement for Young Mediterranean Voices (YMV) and part of the “HR/VP Roadmap for Youth Engagement”.

The European Young Leaders (EYL40) programme, led by Friends of Europe, is a unique, inventive and multi-stakeholder programme that aims to promote a European identity by engaging the continent’s most promising talents in initiatives that
will shape Europe’s future. As of 2017, the programme has also organised exchanges with young leaders from the MENA region and from the USA and Canada.

With the support of

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